Heathrow opens Olympic art exhibition

Passengers at Heathrow will now have the chance to get up close with Britain’s top Olympians as they are immortalised in works of art.

The High Performance Art Exhibition features sport and Olympic-themed art by leading and emerging British artists and will be based in Terminal 5 until the end of January next year.

Heathrow will be the officially designated airport of the 2012 Olympics and is expecting to welcome over 125,000 visitors for the games. The exhibition forms part of Heathrow’s expo programme, which showcases the best of British culture and commerce to provide a unique and unexpected dimension to passengers’ journeys.

The exclusive new exhibition features 50 works of art, which passengers will have the opportunity to buy and have delivered direct to their homes. The prices range from a few hundred to several thousand pounds. All the proceeds will be split between the artist and the British Paralympic Charity.

The High Performance Art Exhibition is a follow up to the highly successful Art of Sport exhibition, which raised approximately £6,000 for SportsAid earlier this year.

The featured works of art consist of a diverse range of styles and are a combination of paintings, photographs and sculptures. Among the current and former Olympians depicted is Paralympic gold medallist Lee Pearson whose torso has been sculptured from bronze by Lorne McKean.

A second expo space will be used to showcase several sculptures and direct passengers to the rest of the exhibition. Around seven million passengers will pass through Terminal 5 while the exhibition is running.

Sarah Lewis, account manager for sponsorship and experience at Heathrow said: “This exciting new exhibition honours the best of Britain’s sportsmen and women as we eagerly countdown to the 2012 London Olympics. We are constantly looking at ways to make every journey better at Heathrow and provide passengers with an immediate taste of British sport and culture, and believe that this art exhibition will be as captivating as it is unexpected.”